BILL CUTTING PRISON TERMS GETS FINAL OK

Foster Expected To Sign It Into Law

BATON ROUGE -- Accepting the argument that "throw-away-the-key" sentencing
guidelines are filling state prisons beyond capacity, lawmakers Wednesday
gave final approval to a bill to shorten some drug sentences and do away
with mandatory jail time for many nonviolent crimes.

The House voted 65-35 for a compromise version of Senate Bill 239 by Sen.
Charles Jones, D-Monroe. The Senate passed the measure Tuesday on a 34-5 vote.

Gov. Foster, who has supported the measure as a way for the state to save
$60 million a year in prison costs while rehabilitating nonviolent
offenders, is expected to sign the bill into law.

Rep. Willie Hunter, D-Monroe, one of the floor managers for the bill in the
House, said it gives judges more leeway on whether to send nonviolent
criminals to jail or place them on probation.

The Legislature in the past decade has tied judges' hands by mandating
minimum prison sentences for many nonviolent and minor drug offenses,
Hunter said.

With 36,000 inmates, he said, the state prison system cannot absorb many
more inmates. Hunter said the bill will save more than $63 million, which
can be used to finance drug courts and other alternatives to prison and to
hire more probation officers to keep tabs on convicts who serve suspended
sentences.

The three House members and three senators who wrote the conference
committee report retained most of the language the House insisted on when
it passed the bill last week: It excludes from the list of nonviolent
offenses crimes like arson of a religious building, video voyeurism and
possession and illegal use of weapons.

The bill also cuts in half many drug sentences, such as possession of
heroin, which currently is punishable by a life sentence. Under the bill,
it will be cut to a 50-year sentence.

Foster has backed the measure along with disparate groups such as the
state's district attorneys, the criminal defense lawyers association and
victims rights groups.

The bill does not affect offenders already sentenced, but does establish a
Risk Review panel to look at the records of inmates and determine if a
parole hearing is merited.

The panel cannot study and make recommendations for inmates convicted of a
sex offense against someone under 18; those serving time for possession of
a pound or more of marijuana or 28 grams or more of cocaine.

The proposal will allow the panel to review the prison conduct records of
multiple offenders, but only if they have not committed any violent crimes.

Rep. Emma Devillier, D-Plaquemine, a former assistant district attorney,
opposed the bill and tried to have it sent back to the conference committee
to fine-tune some of the language -- and possibly kill it in the waning
hours of the session. She said language in the bill was unclear and could
allow the panel to review violent criminals or drug dealers.

Under questioning by Rep. Troy Hebert, D-Jeanerette, Hunter and Martiny
conceded they did not have the precise cost savings of the bill. "I want
some kind of defense when I go back home that I am not letting hardened
criminals out of jail," Hebert said.

"Maybe you ought to vote against this bill," a red-faced Martiny shot back.
"Anyone who wants to do the safe thing, take his lead and vote against the
bill. . . . We can deal with the problem or do the safe thing. We can go
back and tell our constituents that we've locked them up. . . . This is a
start to solving the problem (of jail overcrowding). We can either deal
with it or compound the problem."